Of routes and ruptures : modes of displacement in French Caribbean literature

The French Caribbean and its people has always been marked by a series of movements; towards the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, away from these islands, and movements within the islands themselves. From historical traumas of the transatlantic slave trade to the more recent movements towards and within metropolitan France, French Caribbean identity and its literature has been informed by the constant displacements of its people. Leaning on both English and French definitions, this thesis proposes two interpretations of displacement/déplacement: as ruptures– breaking from places of origin and the traumas they cause– and as movement– the ability to move between spaces and within them. By examining six texts across two generations of French Caribbean authors– Patrick Chamoiseau, Gisèle Pineau, Fabienne Kanor and Alfred Alexandre– the thesis will undertake a journey of its own. Firstly, it will look at how female authors Pineau and Kanor displace the narrative of enslavement to centre female voices that have been neglected in the recounting of this history. It will explore how their works represent the definitive rupture of the Middle Passage and how its trauma reverberates in the lives of the women of the Antilles today. Secondly, the thesis moves forward in time to the twenty–first century depictions of the Martinican port city, Fort-de-France. It will examine patterns of (im)mobility and how certain characters in the texts of Patrick Chamoiseau and Alfred Alexandre oppose the systems within the cityscape that keep them on the periphery. Finally, the thesis will build a bridge between home and diasporic texts from Kanor and Alexandre as they explore the ramifications of la blès (the wound) of the past in the present in Fort-de-France and in Paris. Ultimately, this thesis will explore the multiple ruptures endured by the characters of this literature and the routes that they forge as they navigate the complexities of French Caribbean identities.